Started finger feeding, loves food, sleeps 10.5 hours straight at night, has 3 set naps, is babbling constantly, definitely a mommy’s girl, has developed separation anxiety, still not crawling and she’s pretty frustrated by this, has pulled to standing, still serious but also very happy, loves to screech LOUDLY to get attention

Reese is such a sweet little thing with a big personality. At first, she’s a tough nut to crack but once you’ve gotten past her stoic outer shell she becomes all crunched nose smiles and sweet babbles. She likes to pinch and pull hair, which isn’t too pleasant, to say the least.

This little one still doesn’t have any teeth, and even though she’s been drooling a lot her gums aren’t red or inflamed so we’re still waiting. The lack of teeth doesn’t hold her back at all. She pretty much exclusively finger feeds now and eats table food with us, mashing her food with her gums. Her fine motor skills have developed beautifully and it’s such fun to watch her stuff her face. We went peach picking last week and she ate 3 whole peaches!! I was kind of shocked.

Her primary mode of getting around is by rolling, but she often gets super frustrated and just screeches. I keep reminding her that she’s a human being and not a car brake but she pays me no heed. Ever determined to do things in her own way and in her own time, she has pulled to standing before even crawling. What can I say? She’s her own person.

She’s starting to develop separation anxiety and definitely has a strong preference for mommy over anyone else.

Reese is sleeping 10.5 hours at night and get’s up at 6 am and which point I bring her into bed with me and nurse her while I doze a while longer and if I’m really lucky she’ll fall back asleep for another hour or so.

Asher and Bennett can’t get enough of her and Asher, in particular, is very protective of his baby sister, often singing her sweet little made up songs to cheer her up. One morning I woke up at 6:30 am not to the sound of her cries but to Asher sitting by her crib and singing to her to keep her company. My heart just about burst!

We’re so loving getting to know our sweet Reesey and I’m trying to cherish every moment with her, but I find it’s quite hard to give her the same focus and attention that I gave her siblings. Life with three is a joy but no joke.

Started solids, night weaned, sleeps through the night (!!!), moved into her crib, shares a room with her brother and sister, personality is much more relaxed, smiles readily, laughs easily,

It only just occurred to me that I forgot to include her piggie in her 7-month photoshoot. Alas, I guess forgetting things is par for the course with being a mom to three.

Reese has really blossomed this month but it was a rocky start. We started off the month with a lot of stress, Reese was just getting over her second of back to back ear infections, which meant she was all around quite grumpy. At one point I was becoming increasingly worried that she may have a chronic illness (mainly, cystic fibrosis) or a mental disorder. But then seemingly overnight, the clouds parted and my little girl brightened up. She became so much more personable and social. She started laughing much more readily and smiled easily. It was like we were finally connecting. It was a HUGE weight off my shoulders, to say the least.

Reese started solids this month and let me tell you, it has been quite the struggle. She so clearly wants to take part in meals, and she loves gumming food, but she doesn’t actually want to swallow any of it. Just another way that she is markedly different from her brother and sister. Her first food was avocado and she seemed to like it but didn’t want to swallow it. In fact, it’s been near impossible to get her to swallow anything. Either, she spits it out the second it goes in or she’s so mad that it’s in her mouth that she throws it all up anyway. The. Struggle. Is. Real. We took a break from solids for a couple weeks and when we tried again, we had similar results. She wants it, but she doesn’t want it. I’m hoping we’ve finally turned a corner. This past week she actually started swallowing a little bit! I’m actually able to get some food into her! Her poop still isn’t transitioning from breastmilk poop, but it’s a start!

Mid-month, I night weaned her. I knew going into it that it wouldn’t be as simple as night weaning Asher and Bennett but I still wasn’t fully prepared for how willful she is. We moved her into the kid’s room and into her own crib. The first night, she woke up 3 times and was awake for over an hour for 2 of those times. Every night after that she would only wake up once but would stay awake for 1-2 hours screaming while I rocked and soothed her. Finally, after about 10 days on a Friday night, I asked Rafaan to get up with her (I was only half serious and was pretty sure I’d be getting up). I awoke the next morning to find Rafaan asleep in the kid’s room and I hadn’t heard Reese at all. Come to find out she did wake up, but Raf picked her up, for a minute, put her back down and then patted her butt for 2 minutes and SHE WENT BACK TO SLEEP!!! At this point, I congratulated him on his promotion to night shift. Since it was a long weekend he got up with her the next few nights all of which he was able to get her back to sleep fairly quickly, with the exception of the one time that she woke up at 5:30 a.m. and fussed until I got up and nursed her at 6:15 a.m. or so. After that, she started sleeping through the night. it’s been kind of amazing. All 3 kids share a room and that’s been going really well also. They’ve only woken her up a couple times and we’re able to get her back to sleep pretty quickly for the most part. Hallelujah!!

Both my grandmother’s are visiting this month and it’s quite special that Reese has been able to spend some time with them. She is starting to scoot and scootch along on the floor on her tummy. I think she’s still a ways off from crawling and no teeth to speak of but she’s definitely starting to widen to roaming radius. Reese is very much a Mommy’s girl, just like her sister Bennett was. She does this funny thing where she’ll be fussing with someone else and I’ll go pick her up and she immediately stops fussing but then rotates her body to look back at the person that was just holding them with this almost smug look on her face. It cracks me up. She’s also taken to holding her arms out and waving her hands about in elegant little circles, almost like she trying to practice a Persian dance. She really is such a delight and I just can’t get enough of her sweet snuggles!

26 inches long (53rd percentile), 15 pounds 2 ounces, (29th percentile), 17.2 inches head circumference (75th-90th percentile), smiles readily, sits upright without her hands, laughs almost exclusively for Bennett, started napping in her crib, finally moved out of her sleep regression, still only sleeps in 3-4 hour stretches, hair has started coming in, loves to suck her big toe, takes 3 naps a day, loves sleeping on her tummy

This little girl is FINALLY a smiley baby. She is definitely still more serious than either of her siblings but she’s really starting to smile and I love it. She’s still stingy with her laughs but for some reason, Bennett can have her in a fit of giggles by playing peek-a-boo with her and it is probably the sweetest thing on the face of the planet. Always grabbing at food that we have with us,

Reese developed quite the interest in people food this month. Always grabbing at food that we’re eating and since I’m SOOOOO late in posting this, she has started solids, but you’ll have to wait for her 6-month update to hear all about it, but let’s just say it’s been quite the ride.

The dreaded sleep regression is behind us!! I think the turning point was when I started putting her to sleep on her tummy. She can roll back and forth on her own anyway, but something about being put down on her belly as opposed to her back stopped her from waking up the second I placed her down. I also spent a lot of time this month working with her so that she would be able to fall asleep without nursing and that has also helped a ton. Reese now naps in her crib and sometime in the next few weeks, I plan on night weaning her, which I hope will result in her sleeping through the night (fingers crossed). I must admit, I have mixed feelings about moving her into her own bed at night. On the one hand, I know that once she crawls things will only get more challenging (she has already fallen out of our bed once in the middle of the night). But on the other hand, I’m really loving all the snuggles.

Reese developed a double ear infection and possibly strep this month, which needless to say was not fun. She did however finally kick the chest congestion that had been lingering for 2 months (halleluja!). The worst part about her ear infection aside from her obvious misery was getting her to take her antibiotics. If I could get her to swallow it without immediately spitting it out (which let’s be honest, was near impossible) then 2 out of 3 times she’d vomit it up in a fit of rage. Giving her medication quickly became the worst part of my day.

Reesey is getting stronger and likes to sit upright now, although she will still tumble over onto her face after a while, so I have to be vigilant. She loves to put her feet into her mouth and will often be seen sucking on her big toe, which is super adorable.

Asher and Bennett continue to dote on her. They love her so much and are so intent on demonstrating that love that poor Reese often has two sticky and loud people in her face, smothering her with attention and affection. She truly in the apple of their eyes.

Rolled over (back to tummy), slowly getting over her sleep regression, has giggles a few times this month, loves to be in the center of everything, can hold things fairly well now, had some chest congestion, still drooling like a faucet, really wants to sit up, enjoys bouncing in her jolly jumper, loves to splash at bath time, flat out refuses a bottle

5 months old! How is this little girl five months old already?! Where is the time going? This past month has been one fraught with many challenges, mainly due to my knee surgery but also in large part due to Reese’s sleep regression (although, things are finally looking up on that front!!). Juggling 3 children under 5 while being immobile has been one of the greatest trials of motherhood, it has made me so thankful for all the blessings in my life. Being temporarily laid up has really put things into perspective for me. My cousin Dana (who’s a super human) and my mother-in-law both came and stayed with us this month to help out during the last 2 weeks I had to be on crutches. They were both God sends and I’m just so blessed to have such a wonderful support system. While I’m off crutches now, I’m still in a straight leg brace and have to ‘peg leg’ around, but still, this is a VAST improvement.

Reese loves to roll over now. If I put her down on her back, she’ll quickly roll over onto her tummy and then immediately start protesting the fact that she’s on her tummy. She can roll back over, but for whatever reason, she simply doesn’t and instead has decided that screaming to be rescued is the way to go. This girl has a flare for the dramatic, I can already tell.

We got her a jolly jumper this month and every time I put her in there I can barely hold back my own giggles, she looks like a teeny tiny river dancer while in it. It’s hilarious but she absolutely loves it!

This baby will not take a bottle, which is a problem because with her sleep so erratic I never know when she’s going to wake up and need to be nursed, which means I’m afraid to leave her with anyone and Raf and I are in sore need of a date night. She has been sleeping a bit better. I generally am able to nurse her and then put her down in our bed, surrounded by a pillow blockade, and she’ll drift off to sleep happily. This is fairly new though so I’m still hesitant to rock the boat and attempt to put her to sleep in her bassinet. Lately, she’s been doing a 3 hour stretch in the evening, which is way better than the waking up every hour that she was doing last month. However, even that isn’t consistent and therefore can’t really be relied on. She’s basically moved into our bed and she seems quite content to stay there.

Reese continues to smile more and more but she’s a tough crowd when it comes to laughing. I mean I’ve only been able to make her laugh heartily one time and have been able to illicit the barest of giggles a handful of time and usually only be tickling her, at which point, it really only seems like she’s doing it to make me stop. She’s my serious girl for sure.

Asher and Bennett continue to fawn all over Reese and it’s basically the sweetest thing ever. She’s a very good sport about it, even when Asher insists on picking her up, or rolling her over (to rescue her from tummy time) and inadvertently hurts her, or when Bennett sit on her for reasons only she knows. Reese is certainly a luckly little girl and we’re clearly all obessed with her.

10 pounds 6.4 ounces (28th percentile), 22.2 inches long (41st percentile), 16.3 inches head circumference, got thrush again, started smiling!!, prefers sleeping over eating, loves her pacifier, loves bath time, hates tummy time, has a bedtime schedule, falls asleep on her own, wakes up 2-4 times at night, looks most like Asher

Month 2 with my little Reese Marie has been a vast improvement on month 1. She responded almost immediately to her prescription thrush medication and all of a sudden she was happier and more comfortable than I had ever seen her. She actually looked relaxed! She started nursing better and spending periods of being awake and happy. As a result, my mood has greatly improved as well. It’s not perfect, but I think that has more to do with the cold winter weather than anything else. After my last post I received such an outpouring of love and support from people near and far, it really helped remind me that I have an amazing tribe. And it just goes to show that we should be talking about these things more, the people in our lives want to help, if only we’d let in. So thank you for reminding me of that!

I found a pacifier Reese likes, which was AMAZING! Getting her to sleep anywhere that was away from me was no longer an enormous struggle. I could put her down awake and just give her the pacifier and she’d be content, I’d replace it a couple times and she’d fall asleep. It was seriously such a game changer.

AND she smiled at me!! She smiled for the first time on my birthday and it was the sweetest present ever. She’s still not quick to smile and often can be seen sporting a furrowed brow but I’ll take it! There have been a couple times this month when she makes a noise that sounds like she’s on the verge of laughter, but I’m still waiting on that front.

Towards the end of the month she started pulling off the breast again and sleeping more and I was pretty bummed to discover her thrush had returned. This time I went straight for the prescription medication and she returned to her happier self in a day or so. With that said, she’s never been a great eater. She prefers to sleep over nearly everything else. At her 2 month appointment, we learned that she has dropped from the 48th percentile in weight to the 28th, which isn’t good. So her pediatrician wants her to come back in a month for a weight check. In the mean time, I will make it my mission to nurse this girl ALL the time. It won’t be easy, but the past couple days give me hope that it’s possible. She has pretty much nursed around the clock for a couple days. Sure it could just be her wanting some extra snuggles after her vaccines but I’m rolling with it. I also learned that she has a very sensitive gag reflex, which is to blame for all the times when she vomits from seemingly nothing. Her doctor recommended I try distracting her by blowing in her face or stroking her nose, when she gets into one of her coughing fits that leads to her vomiting. I’ve tried this a couple times in the past day and so far it seems to be working. I also think that while her pacifier has been a God send, it has contributed to her percentile drop. There are times when I try to nurse her but she flat out refuses, but will happily suck away at her pacifier, so I’m going to try to have to work on that more as well.

She did sleep a 6 hour stretch one night, which was awesome! In the mornings when she first wakes up she coos and babbles a bit at me and she gives me the most smiles during this time. She’s becoming a little more sturdy, she holds her head up more and likes to kick her legs out to support her weight for short periods. She HATES tummy time, so we need to work on that as well. All in all this month has been 2 steps forward 1 step back. Asher and Bennett are obsessed with her. They love her so much and are constantly showering her

Asher and Bennett are obsessed with her. They love her so much and are constantly showering her in hugs, kisses and sweet caresses, it’s the sweetest thing, but also makes me slightly claustrophobic to watch. They just give her no space!!

She is starting to feel familiar to me, and I’m really looking forward to watching her personality unfold!

Born: December 10, 2016 at 5:19pm. This little girl has brought a whole new element of sweetness and joy to our family. Asher and Bennett are totally smitten with her. Asher is constantly remarking about how cute she is and he keeps seeking reassurance that we are in fact going to keep her. Bennett is always showering her in the tiniest little kisses and stroking her head and softly shushing her whenever she becomes unsettled. They both rush to her side and try to soothe her every time she cries. I think she is about the luckiest little girl around to have such loving and doting siblings. Birth story to come.

started walking (!!!), can stand herself up unassisted, first time touching snow, nearly mastered the stairs, fell down the stairs, loves removing all the books from the bookshelves, naps 30 minutes max, started giving kisses, climbs everything, first trip to Texas, strong separation anxiety, very attached to mommy

This little ray of sunshine started walking! This past month she has hit quite a few big milestones and I’m enjoying every second with her. Although she can walk she still mostly chooses to crawl and will only walk when we’re encouraging it or if it’s a very short distance. I think she still needs to gain some confidence. Where she lacks confidence in walking she makes up for in climbing. If you aren’t watching her closely, the next think you know she’s on top of the coffee table, or standing on the backrest of the couch looking out the window. If there is ever an option to go vertical she will take it. She also learned to stand up all on her own and it is the cutest thing to see because she absolutely beams with pride whenever she does it.

Bennett LOVES climbing up and down the stairs and I must say she has gotten pretty good at it, but she fall down half a flight this month. It was a mix up of communication. I assumed Raf had his eye on her and he thought I had it covered and the next thing we knew…boom,boom,boom,boom,boom,WAIL. My heart nearly stopped in my chest. But thankfully she wasn’t hurt at all, just pretty scared. I wish I got off so lucky whenever I fall down the stairs (a frequent occurrence).

We went and visited Raf’s side of the family in Texas this month and not surprisingly, Bennett was a huge hit. It became clear while in Texas that Miss B has some very strong separation anxiety when it comes to me, which I both love and find inconvenient.

Bennett is extremely attached to me. She likes to know where I am at all times and wants to be able to see me. Even when she’s playing, she’ll come up to me periodically to check in and get a quick snuggle before going about her business. I am savoring every tiny moment of this time because I know that my days of being her favorite person on the planet are numbered.

Her rolls are melting away as she becomes increasingly more mobile and I hate it. She did get RSV this month so I’m sure that didn’t help. Both kids had to use a nebulizer every 4 hours and Bennett HATED it and pretty much screamed the entire time. Speaking of screaming, she also got to experience snow for the first time this month and let me tell you, she was not pleased. She must take after her Mama after all. Asher on the other hand must be half abominable snow man. That kid can and does spend hours out in the snow and still has to be dragged inside. He is so lucky to have such an accommodating father.

Bennett’s naps have fallen to pieces this month. She takes two naps a day and really only sleeps 20-30 minutes both times. For the morning nap I don’t really mind because we’re usually have a lot of things going on in the morning. The afternoon nap on the other hand is when both kids are down at the same time and that’s my recharge time. She will nap longer if she’s napping next to me in a dark room only because I’m able to get her to fall back asleep after she wakes up 20 minutes in. But I’ve found that I then fall asleep and it really messes with my sleep pattern (we’ve been making huge efforts to get to bed early). I know what I need to do to get her to sleep longer but I’m not super motivated to do them. Her mood isn’t suffering and she’s content for the time being to play quietly in the same room as me. I may hold off and see if things change on their own once she drops her morning nap before making any concerted effort to extend her afternoon nap.

I can’t believe I only have one more of these monthly updates for Bennett! She’ll be 1 year old next month, a whole trip around the sun! Just thinking about it makes every fiber of my being ache. My sweet baby is just growing up before my very eyes.

Rolls to get around, itching to crawl, started solids and loves food, sleeps 12 hours through the night, moved into her crib and shares a room with her big brother now, loves watching everything Asher does, super smiley

This month has whizzed by, I know I’m constantly saying that but it’s true! I feel like I blink and she’s another month older. I can’t handle it!

Bennett started solids this month, and has been loving them thus far. Her first food was avocado and it pretty much snow balled from there. Most of the time she eats what we’re eating, just a pureed version of course. If we’re having lentil curry, so is she. When we eat koresht badamjan (persian split pea and eggplant stew) so does Bennett. Spiced cauliflower soup and salad? You bet! If I didn’t love my vitamix before (which I absolutely did) I am over the moon now. The baby bullet is archaic by comparison. The only thing I haven’t given her is nuts, but I may start giving her some soon. Towards the end of this month I started giving her rougher textures rather than smooth purees and I also started letting her practice picking up and eating those little rice puffs.

The other big development this month was that she now sleeps through the night! I night weaned her and that was that. It really only took one night and she was a pro. I’m going to write a separate post on my “no sleep training, sleep training method” because it was the easiest thing ever! Bennett and Asher now share a room (although most nights Asher somehow ends up in our bed) and it’s so nice having our room back! I’ve been really enjoying reading in bed.

Bennett is Asher’s biggest fan! She loves watching him and if he’s around it’s nearly impossible to get her to focus on anything else. Asher in turn is just as fond of her. Watching their relationship blossom and unfold is really one of the sweetest things on this earth. The following pictures illustrate just how enamored Bennett is with Asher.

17 pounds 12 ounces (78th percentile), 17.5 inches head circumference (95th percentile), 26 1/4 inches long (64th percentile), first international trip (visited Yap, FSM), went on 9 flights this month (making it 13 total), first boat ride, first time in a pool, first time in the pacific ocean, first time meeting her first cousins and uncles jared and evan and aunt sholz, sleep has been all over the place, super curious about eating.

I cannot believe that half of her first year is already behind us! I mean, seriously, what. just. happened?! I have been enjoying every second of this sweet time with her and she is an absolute delight. This has been an insanely busy and hectic month. We were literally traveling from August 1-28 and are still trying to return to normalcy. We spent 2 weeks in Eliot, Maine at my parent’s house. I took my first solo trip with two kids and actually survived it! My whole family, (parents, brothers and their families and us) flew half way around the world to the tiny island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia, where I grew up. The journey there was quite an adventure and features, a tropical depression, torrential rain, a mechanical issue, spending three days in the tropics with no luggage and more. So stay tuned for that epic tale. After that we spent five days in Hawaii with my older brother’s family before heading home.

Bennett has always been and continues to be a complete joy. For the past month the 4 of us have been sharing a room, which was really good in many ways because I think it helped prepare B and A for when they’ll share a room but the room sharing combined with the jetlag has resulted in Bennett’s sleep being all out of whack. However I will say that bed sharing probably made the jetlag so much more bearable because when she would wake up in the middle of the night she’d just nurse until she fell asleep again and I’d barely have to wake up at all.

This sweet girl is probably at her peak chub right now and I’m loving it. She’s in the sweet spot. You know the one. The time when they are able to sit up and are very engaging but can’t move around yet. It’s glorious. She’s all smiles and flirty eyes 95% of the time. She has been incredibly curious about food and looks at us longingly whenever we’re eating. I did let her taste a little bit of fresh coconut but I don’t think she actually swallowed any. I think she may have had a tiny bit of hair growth. Nothing to really write home about, but it’s a start!

rolled over (tummy to back), has started to chuckle but still no full belly laugh, eyes are a bluish grey, sleeps un-swaddled, has cheeks for days, hair is still peach fuzz, has started drooling a bit, has found her fingers and loves sucking on her index and middle fingers at the same time, normally wakes up 1-2 times at night, still looks exactly like mommy

The past three months have whizzed by! If having one child was great, having two is that much sweeter. I LOVE having another baby. It’s so wonderful watching Asher and Bennett interact, nothing is more endearing. Asher is still absolutely enamored by Bennett. He showers her in the gentlest, hugs and kisses. He caresses her head and asks her sweet little questions, like if she had a good nap. It’s to die for. There is not a single hint of jealousy from Asher. Bennett is a delightful and incredibly easy going baby, but she still occupies a lot of my time and Asher takes it in stride. I’m just in awe of how seamlessly he has transitioned from being an only child to being a big brother.

Bennett lights up the room with her smiles. She has the teeniest mouth, and yet she has this way of smiling that rivals the sun. She opens her mouth super wide and turns her head to the side like she’s being a little bit shy, but the main event is her eyes. You can just feel the warmth and adoration pouring out of them. It really does make you feel like the most important person on the planet for a moment. I have yet to capture one of these show stoppers in a photograph, but hopefully soon.

She started rolling over from her tummy to her back this month, and while she hasn’t rolled the other way yet, I decided now was as good a time as ever to stop swaddling, especially with the temperature getting warmer and warmer. It took a bit of adjusting on her part. I think she woke up nearly every hour or two the first night and naps were really difficult, but she’s since gotten the hang of it. One night this month she went down at 7:30pm and didn’t wake up until 6am. It was glorious, except I didn’t go to bed until after midnight, so I completely missed out on my opportunity to get a full night’s rest and I woke up super engorged. The poor girl was practically drowning in milk. That night was an anomaly, she normally wakes up once and sometimes twice. I’ve been implementing what I like to call the “no sleep training, sleep training method’ and it’s awesome, but more on that later.

Bennett has discovered the joys of sucking on her fingers and is obsessed. She favors sucking on her index and middle finger right now, which elicits adorably loud slurping sounds. She has an on again, off again relationship with the pacifier. One week, she’s totally uninterested the next she loves it and back and forth she goes. Thankfully we’re in a ‘loving it’ week. She isn’t nearly as floppy as she once was and can actually feel quite stiff and compact as times. Her rolls continue to expand and I love munching on them.